One of the most captivating storylines of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season was the ultimate demise of Stewart-Haas Racing, a multi-time championship organization that shuttered its doors after Tony Stewart pulled out of the ownership side of the sport following the season.
It sent a shock wave through the garage that opened eyes to the surreal fact of just how quickly one, or an esteemed organization in SHR’s case, can briskly fall from grace.
While the team’s other co-owner Gene Haas elected to retain one charter and form Haas Factory Team, it is only a shell of the powerhouse that resided in Kannapolis, N.C.
However, though the deterioration of a once top-tier team was a somber sight for many, don’t feel too bad for the four drivers that had to go looking for new rides. Those drivers are Josh Berry, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Preece, and Noah Gragson.
All four drivers displayed flashes of stardom at brief moments during SHR’s downfall, topped by Briscoe’s clutch victory in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway to clinch the team its final playoff appearance.
One by one, all four drivers found new homes, and boy, has the grass been greener on the other side.
To consolidate just how evident this has been in the first six races of 2025, Berry landed his first career win and the 101st for Wood Brothers Racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in just the fifth start for the new pairing. Not only has the former grassroots standout shown up with speed on a weekly basis, he already has matched his top five total from last year, earned half of his top 10 total from a year ago, and more than likely, locked up his first playoff appearance.
Briscoe arguably landed in the best position, inheriting Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 from Martin Truex Jr., who retired from full-time competition. While his new tenure has been somewhat rocky to start, he earned Toyota its first Daytona 500 pole, was in the hunt to win at Homestead-Miami Speedway and has already grabbed two top fives after tallying just three last year.
Preece was the beneficiary of RFK Racing’s expansion to a third car, handing the keys of its No. 60 to Preece. In return, he’s already earned a career-best finish on a non-superspeedway by finishing third at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and he has a pair of top 10s to begin his next chapter, something it took 19 races for him to accomplish in 2024.
Last and not least is Gragson, who, on paper, has not reaped the same rewards as his teammates yet with Front Row Motorsports for the 2025 campaign. Still, he secured his first top 10 on a road course at Circuit of the Americas, and he matched his career-best starting position of third at Homestead. There’s likely more production on the way from the flamboyant talent.
It certainly begs the question of how much each driver’s talent was masked by SHR last year (or in Briscoe and Preece’s case, multiple years). With all due respect to SHR, a team on its way out is certainly vulnerable to having the wind completely taken out of its sails, and that appears to have been the case.
Not surprisingly, this is not the first time we’ve seen a team’s disintegration turn into a prime opportunity for its driver(s).
Look as recently as 2021, when Chip Ganassi Racing was bought out by Trackhouse Racing, leaving Kurt Busch looking for a ride and Ross Chastain in the midst of uncertainty once again. Busch landed at 23XI Racing, earning his final career win at Kansas Speedway before a concussion ended his career.
Chastain, meanwhile, has done quite well for himself. After Trackhouse opted to retain a prime example of a journeyman, Chastain recompensed team owner Justin Marks by going on a run to the Championship 4 in the team’s second season, including perhaps the best move in NASCAR history, the “Hail Melon” (which is now banned). Since joining the team, Chastain has racked up all five of his career wins to this point, and he has made two playoff appearances in the past three seasons with Trackhouse.
Truex’s move to Joe Gibbs Racing following the surprise closure of Furniture Row Racing wasn’t necessarily a “grass is greener” experience, as his lone title came with Furniture Row in addition to more wins, a better average finish, and an equal amount of Championship 4 appearances.
Yet, Truex was the unfortunate (or fortunate depending on the overall perspective) victim of multiple closures. His first team, Dale Earnhardt Inc., ultimately merged with Chip Ganassi Racing before having its name completely taken out. That led to Truex joining Michael Waltrip Racing, where he broke a six-year winless drought at Sonoma Raceway in 2013.
Unfortunately, a rather solid rejuvenation there will always be overshadowed by the team’s tumultuous, swift downfall after the Spingate controversy in 2013. However, that loss proved to be Truex’s gain, leading him to Furniture Row where he molded into a Hall-of-Fame worthy driver.
Truex’s teammate at MWR, Clint Bowyer, also benefited from a change of scenery following a team’s closure. Bowyer was on the end of back-to-back cessations, first with MWR, then at HScott Motorsports after a one-year stint in 2016. His looming free agency during 2016 caught the eyes of none other than Stewart, signing Bowyer to SHR.
After getting off to a slow start in 2017, Bowyer roared back in 2018 to snap a six-year winless skid and win twice that year, which served as the final two wins of his career. He also qualified for the playoffs the last three seasons of his career.
Kasey Kahne ended up on multiple teams on its way out as well, starting with one of the most promising teams only to fail that we have seen in recent decades: Evernham Motorsports. In 2004, Kahne filled the shoes of the retiring Bill Elliott, who experienced a second wind of his own after shutting down his own Bill Elliott Racing. Elliott took home four more trophies with Evernham after snapping a seven-year winless from his time with his own team.
Virtually unheard of, fans became familiar with “Ole Blue Eyes” real quick after he recorded five runner-ups en route to rookie honors that year. He followed that up with seven wins over the next two seasons, including a six-win 2006 campaign.
Dubbed by many to be NASCAR’s next Jeff Gordon, Kahne ultimately materialized a respectable career with 18 wins, but fell short of expectations. The primary reasons for that can largely be attributed to instability, epitomized by Evernham’s collapse.
Backstage drama between Jeremy Mayfield (who drove for EMS from 2002 to 2006) and team owner Ray Evernham was just the first domino in a series of financial woes and ownership stake changes that led to the team merging with Richard Petty Racing for 2009, with Evernham completely withdrawing himself.
The annual roulette wheel of uncertainty provided little stability for Kahne, who remained in the popular No. 9 until leaving before the 2010 season ended. He was then put on lease to Red Bull Racing for the final races of 2010 into a full-time 2011 season while waiting to inherit Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 from the retiring Mark Martin.
Joining Brian Vickers at RBR for 2011, Kahne brought the organization to victory lane one last time at Phoenix Raceway in the penultimate race of the season. The team then folded after that season.
Kahne finally landed at HMS, and while he never could shine under the bright lights of the iconic team, he did earn a career-best points finish of fourth in 2012, as well as winning two more crown jewel races including his last win in the 2017 Brickyard 400.
Time would fail for us to dive into other such stories of drivers landing on their feet after going through the uncertainty of team closures.
Diamond Ridge Motorsports’ demise in 1998 brought Elliott Sadler to the Wood Brothers, where he earned his first career win. Ricky Rudd‘s shuttering of his own team in 1999 allowed him to win three more races at Yates Racing. Even the ceasing of Holman-Moody’s operations in 1973 indirectly led to the star pairing of David Pearson and the Wood Brothers, though that occurred in 1971 after a pay dispute between Holman-Moody and Pearson.
The point is, even in the midst of uncertainty and doubts of drivers’ fates following a team closing its doors, it doesn’t necessarily mean the door has closed on their careers.
Luken Glover joined the Frontstretch team in 2020 as a contributor, furthering a love for racing that traces back to his earliest memories. Glover inherited his passion for racing from his grandfather, who used to help former NASCAR team owner Junie Donlavey in his Richmond, Va. garage. A 2023 graduate from the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is the author of "The Underdog House," contributes to commentary pieces, and does occasional at-track reporting. Additionally, Glover enjoys working in ministry, coaching basketball, playing sports, and karting.